16 Jul 2012

This spring, while preparing to plant some vegetable seeds in our garden in the countryside, V made these garden labels, with just a pinch of my help. We used 'the method' described here to write the vegetable names - with some permanent markers on large popsicle sticks. V was so so excited about planting the garden and all the preparations around it, that he was more than motivated to write and draw the labels. And, of course, he was so happy that he could do it (almost) himself!

10 Jul 2012

I strongly believe in following the
child's lead, without imposing what or how to do without imposing on a child
what to do or how to do things, and also love the philosophy of John Holt in
regards to learning. One of the main things that he claimed (point he makes)
was that children have a naturaI need to learn and to understand (make sense
of) the world around them, but they have to do this in their own way and in
their own time. Uninvited teaching does not make learning, and more often it
prevents learning. Children learn best without being taught - if we let their
inner interests flourish. Every child learns in his own way, and if allowed,
builds his own system of constructing knowledge. Holt thought that adults could
help young learners best not by deciding what they are to learn but by
encouraging and helping them to learn what they are already busy learning.

V was about four years old when he started
showing interest in writing. This intense enthusiasm (curiosity)
lasted for a while, and then it disappeared for almost a year, to appear again
some time ago. In the beginning V asked us to write down some words for
him so he could copy them. And then some more, and more, and more. He would ask “How do you write a
'lion'?" I would write it down and he would copy the word. And so on.

This initiative and approach of his own
was very exciting for me, and I was thinking of ways to follow his lead and
support it discretely without pushing too much in my own direction.

Since he loved drawing so much I suggested
we make some writing cards together: he would say the word, I would write it
down, and he would draw it, so he would know what it meant.

Instead of asking us to write the words
all the time for him to copy, he could now do this activity on his own, as
well: he would take a card with his drawing of a lion, for example, and he
would know that 'lion' is what is written according to his drawing. He would
then copy the word on a blank piece of paper, with no help.Umesto da stalno traži da zapisujemo za njega reči koje bi kopirao, sada je mogao ovu aktivnost da sprovodi i sam: uzeo bi karticu sa crtežom, npr. lava koji je sam nacrtao, znao bi po crtežu da tu piše 'lav' a onda bi reč 'lav' prepisao na parče belog papira, bez ičije pomoći.

Maybe this approach was completely wrong from the methodical point of view,
but it totally made sense for V and he embraced it with so much enthusiasm,
that I think it couldn't have been harmful. And this is what I want for him: to
try to save this passion and enthusiasm for learning and discovering new things! If passion exists in things we do -
then I strongly believe - it can't be a wrong way!

As an art educator I believe that art (specially open-ended art) is very important for kids. I also believe that kids need play almost as much as they need air. This is a space where I write about things that I make for my kids (ages 6 and 3) to play with, about things that I make and art activities that I do together with them. If you wish to contact me by e-mail you can do it at veravec@gmail.com